不得其門而入

Chinese

 
must not; should not; not be allowed
must not; should not; not be allowed; to not receive
 
his; her; its
his; her; its; theirs; that; such; it (refers to sth preceding it)
 
opening; door; gate
opening; door; gate; doorway; gateway; valve; switch; way to do something; knack; family; house; (religious) sect; school (of thought); class; category; (taxonomy) phylum or division
 
and; as well as; but (not)
and; as well as; but (not); yet (not); (shows causal relation); (shows change of state); (shows contrast)
to enter
trad. (不得其門而入) 不得 其 門 而 入
simp. (不得其门而入) 不得 其 门 而 入

Etymology

From the Analects, Book 19 (《論語·子張》):

叔孫武叔語大夫於朝,曰:「子貢賢於仲尼。」子服景伯以告子貢。子貢曰:「譬之宮牆,賜之牆也及肩,窺見室家之好。夫子之牆數仞,不得其門而入,不見宗廟之美,百官之富。得其門者或寡矣。夫子之云,不亦宜乎!」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
叔孙武叔语大夫于朝,曰:“子贡贤于仲尼。”子服景伯以告子贡。子贡曰:“譬之宫墙,赐之墙也及肩,窥见室家之好。夫子之墙数仞,不得其门而入,不见宗庙之美,百官之富。得其门者或寡矣。夫子之云,不亦宜乎!” [Classical Chinese, simp.]
From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, Wiktionary translation
Shūsūn Wǔ Shū yù dàfū yú cháo, yuē: “Zǐgòng xián yú Zhòngní.” Zǐfú Jǐng Bó yǐ gào Zǐgòng. Zǐgòng yuē: “Pì zhī gōng qiáng, cì zhī qiáng yě jí jiān, kuījiàn shìjiā zhī hǎo. Fūzǐ zhī qiáng shù rèn, bù dé qí mén ér rù, bù jiàn zōngmiào zhī měi, bǎiguān zhī fù. Dé qí mén zhě huò guǎ yǐ. Fūzǐ zhī yún, bù yì yí hū!” [Pinyin]
(The high official) Shusun Wu Shu (叔孫武叔) remarked to the other officials at court, "Zigong surpasses his master (Confucius) in ability." Zifu Jing Bo (子服景伯) reported this to Zigong. Zigong said, "I will use the analogy of a wall; the wall that I have built comes up to my shoulders. One can get a glimpse of the beauty inside my house. My master's wall is very high; if you are unable to enter through the gate, you will not behold the beauty of the ancestral temple or the splendor of all the officers inside. I suspect that few people are able to enter through the gate. Are not then Shusun Wu Shu's words reasonable?"

Pronunciation


Idiom

不得其門而入

  1. to not have an "in"; to be unable to crack into (a market); to try to find an in without any success; to be unable to gain entrance
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